1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of games involving the use of darts, specifically to an electronic dart game that allows players to control and more closely simulate the offensive and defensive strategies of a regulation football game when compared to other dart games with a football theme. A coin toss preferably determines which player or team will go first and which end zone each defends, as in regulation football. Once the game clock is set to establish the length of the quarters (typically five, ten, or fifteen minutes) and the possession clock is set to establish the time allowed for the dart throwing player to use a maximum of four darts to make a first down (typically twenty-five, thirty-five, or forty-five seconds), the first player starts the game by throwing one dart toward the game board. Contact of the first dart against the game board activates the scoring/control board. The first dart throwing player starts first-and-ten on his own 20-yard line, with four darts and eighty yards-to-go. The dart throwing player can then use the time remaining on the game clock to advantage, playing in first down increments or attempting to score a field goal (only when the dart throwing player is thirty yards or less to the scoring goal). The game board is vertically oriented with a larger goal post at the top (used for the award of an extra point after a touchdown), and a smaller goal post at the bottom (used to score field goals). Each time a first down is achieved (minimum of 10-yard gain toward the scoring goal from the line of scrimmage, as in regulation football), the dart throwing player (or a teammate) starts anew with four more darts to attempt to make another first down, or score a field goal (if close enough to the scoring goal line). Yard loss causing the dart throwing player to travel backward beyond his or her own goal line will result in a touch back and the award of two points to the opposing player or team. Should the dart throwing player lack success in hitting areas of the game board that award yard gains, on the third or fourth down the dart throwing player can punt. Punts and field goal attempts must be clearly announced in advance with activation of a button on a hand-held remote control device connected to the scoring/control board, so that the scoring/control board will take appropriate scoring and ball placement action after the “punting” dart is thrown. In addition to the difference in size of the two goal posts used in its end zones, another important difference from the play in a real/regulation football game is that the present invention does not include time outs. No player can stop the clock, only the referee can. An additional difference is that in the present invention end zone changes occur more frequently than in regulation football, with players switching end zones after every successful field goal attempt in addition to the end of each quarter, whereas in regulation football the teams only switch end zones at the end of each quarter. Also, in the most preferred embodiment of the present invention electronic dart football game, there is only one referee (who is selected by both of the players or teams as the arbiter of all disputes). Although not limited thereto, at a minimum the scoring/control board of the present invention preferably includes visual display of the following information, time remaining in the game (game clock), home team score, visitors score, location of the ball on the field, identification of the team having possession of the ball, time remaining for making a first down (possession clock), the period of play (whether 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarter), and the down being played and yards-to-go (such as 1st and 10, 2nd and 5, 2nd and 20, 4th and 1, etc.). The entire simulated football field of the present invention (area between the two goal lines) is a target for thrown darts, with different areas representing yard gains and losses, as well as passes, fumbles, penalties, and interceptions. The end zones in the present invention typically have penalty areas (can resemble a referee) and may optionally have at least one area where a higher-value yard gain can be achieved as a result of a pass completion. While use of the game board without the scoring/control board and hand-held remote control device is possible, if manual scoring and timing are used, however, the pace of a manually-scored game is slower and generally less desirable than when the scoring/control board and hand-held remote control device are present and the players need only to be concerned with game strategy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many dart games with a football theme are known, however, none of them allows players to control and more closely simulate the offensive and defensive strategies of a regulation football ball game than the present invention. For example, the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,822 to Tesa (1990) has a game board with a football field generally patterned after that used in a regulation football ball game, with opposing end zones each having a goal post and areas between the goal lines that marked in 10-yard increments, similar to that of the present invention. The Tesa invention even has a scoreboard with a time clock, visible display of accumulated points for each player or team, and yard line ball location indicators for the home and visiting teams. Yet the football-shaped markings on the Tesa football field comprise two spaced-apart rows of lights that display ball position for either the home or visiting team according to who is in current possession of the ball. Thus, the football-shaped markings on the Tesa field are not dart-directed targets that when hit will award yard gains and losses to the player throwing a dart, or force the dart throwing player to give possession of the ball to the opposing player or team, as in the present invention. Furthermore, the football field displayed on the face of the Tesa invention is placed into a horizontally-extending orientation during game play, with one end zone being positioned to the left of players and the other positioned to their right, whereas the field display on the present invention is used in a vertically-extending orientation that more closely simulates the view a regulation football player would have of a game field. In addition, in the present invention the first player and each player starting after a touchdown is scored, starts on the 20-yard line with eighty yards-to-go, and is given four darts and forty-five seconds on a possession clock in which to use the darts to score or achieve a first down. A field goal can be attempted on any down in the present invention (if the drat throwing player has advanced the ball thirty yards or less from the scoring goal line), but then the players must switch end zones. If the dart throwing player in the present invention achieves a first down before the set time (preferably 25 seconds, 35 second, or 45 seconds) on the possession clock has elapsed, he or she can continue with an identical time interval and four more darts as many times successively as a first down is achieved within the pre-set maximum time interval allowed for possession. When the dart throwing player of the present invention has moved the ball down the field a total of eighty yards to reach the goal line of the opponent's end zone (the player's scoring end zone), touch down points will be awarded to the dart throwing player. The dart throwing player is then allowed a maximum of fifteen seconds to attempt an extra point after touchdown by throwing one dart toward the upper goal post. His or her turn then ends. In the alternative, the dart throwing player in the present invention can attempt a punt or a field goal (if close enough), after which his or her turn ends whether or not the attempt was successful. In contrast, during play of the Tesa game, players start with the ball on their own 40-yard line, and each throw of a dart must result in at least a 10-yard gain or forfeit possession of the ball (whereas in the present invention the minimum ten yard gain needed by a player to continue his or her turn can be achieved through the use of as many as four darts). Therefore, at any time in the Tesa game (except for the last ten yards to the goal line where the rules change to increase the difficulty in getting a touchdown) where ten or more yards has not been obtained in a single throw of a dart, the opponent takes possession of the ball at its current location. Another major difference between present invention and the Tesa invention is that in the present invention players can selectively target different areas on its entire simulated football field (between the two goal lines) which can result in a yard gain, a yard loss, a penalty (with loss of yards and loss of down), or a loss of ball possession via a fumble or interception. Furthermore, with the exception of the larger (double-wide) 20-yard central area spanning both sides of the 50-yard line that awards a player with a 5-yard gain each time a dart lands there, other scoring areas on the simulated football field of the present invention award higher yard gains but have closely adjacent areas with the potential for yards loss or loss of ball possession, including the highest scoring areas (in yards gained) that can be optionally located during game board manufacture in the end zones and are typically encircled by a significantly larger interception area. In contrast, in the Tesa invention, players aim darts at a centrally-located circular dart board covering the middle portion of its simulated football field, with the dart board having twenty pie-shaped areas each individually numbered with a different non-consecutive number from 1-20. Thus, when a player's dart hits eleven of the pie-shaped areas (those numbered 10-20), the player will be awarded with the ten yards needed to throw another dart and have the opportunity to move the total of fifty yards needed to reach the 10-yard line, after which the advancement rules change. In the present invention, the advancement rules do not change close to its goal line. Further Tesa differences from the present invention include the need for players to hit the pie-shaped areas with the number “1” or “20” to obtain an extra point after a touchdown (whereas in the present invention a dart is thrown toward the smaller goal post in the lower end zone), the pie-shaped areas with the number “1” or “20” must be hit to obtain a field goal but this can occur only within 60 yards of the scoring goal line (in contrast, the present invention field goals can only be attempted within 30 yards of the scoring goal line), a bull's-eye area on the circular dart board centrally between all of the pie-shaped areas when hit allows an automatic touchdown (while no such “automatic touchdown” feature is a part of the present invention), and a punt is calculated by doubling the number on the pie-shaped area hit by a dart (whereas a punt in the present invention involves a player throwing a dart to a position on the simulated field of the game board that is as far as possible from the opponent's scoring goal, with the ball being automatically forwarded to the nearest 5-yard line by the scoring/control board. During a punt in the present invention the scoring areas on the game board are not taken into consideration to determine the resulting ball location.
Another dart game with a football theme is U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,325 to Sheem (1987) which displays offensive and defensive targets on a simulated football field. Thus, as explained in column 5, lines 15-31 of the Sheem disclosure, the offensive team would throw a dart and perhaps gain 5 yards, which could be immediately countered by a dart throw by the defensive team that landed on an area marked as a “5-yard run attempt block”, “fumble”, or “interception”. In contrast, the present invention concentrates on developing good offensive strategy, such as conservatively moving the ball down the field toward the scoring goal line via darts thrown near the 50-yard line to consistently receive first downs via smaller five-yard gains, without anyone able to nullify all or part of your action. Also, the pace of the Sheem game is slow, while that of the present invention can be as fast as the dart throwing player desires, according to the level of his or her dart throwing skill, experience, and time remaining on the game clock or possession clock, and further the ball movement in the two games is also not the same. In addition, the entire simulated football field in the present invention between its two goal lines is a target that affects either ball possession or the position of the ball on the field. Further differences between the present invention and the Sheem invention are that field goals in the present invention are scored by landing a dart within the rectangular perimeter of the smaller goal post in the lower end zone, and the center of the game board on the present invention has a double-wide area of low-value yard gain (5-yards) which also adds to the strategy of game play. No other dart game with a football theme is known to have a game board, scoring/control board, hand-held remote control device, or offensive play strategy that is the same or similar to that of the present invention, or provides all of its advantages.